


Another Year

by foofygoldfish



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: F/F, mentions of the drubman clan and mary may, part two has spoilers for 90s disaster movies if anyone cares, soft jess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 22:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18291314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foofygoldfish/pseuds/foofygoldfish
Summary: Some would consider running through Jacob's trials on their birthday a bad sign for the year to come - Alice certainly does, at least. Meeting with Faith, though? That almost changes her mind.





	Another Year

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the original version of Oh The Bliss! I'm not entirely sure how much will end up in the new version, so I'm posting this now :). This is a somewhat direct sequel to "You'll Always Belong to Me," and Faith and Alice have only been seeing each other for a few weeks.

She didn’t know how long she had been out, but it must have been  _ ages _ : her head was foggy and her eyelids, when she finally attempted to open them, felt like sandpaper. Her eyes focused on the movement by her feet: Eli, she realised, looking back at Tammy, who looked… Angry? Then startled as she realised Alice was awake, nodding in her direction to alert Eli.

Alice gave Eli a weak smile, struggling to sit up. Eli rushed to help her, setting pillows behind her back to support her. “How….” She coughed. Fuck, talking hurts. “How long?”

“Two weeks. It’s the 30th. October.” Eli frowned as he gave her a water bottle, other hand carefully (awkwardly) patting her shoulder.

“Oh.”

It was her birthday.

Well, it could be worse - at least she wasn’t running through Jacob’s trials for the millionth time, or sitting in that stupid cage starving.

She wasn’t home, with her cats, in her own goddamn bed, but… The Wolf’s Den was so much better than the alternative. Tammy may still be wary of her, but she knew that her, Eli, and Wheaty would never let her be hurt here. 

Eli sighed. “Do you want to talk? Or…”

“Food?”

“Yeah. Working on that.” He laughed. “Getting you a some stuff to-go, Whitehorse is on his way to get you.”

She nibbled on the crackers Wheaty brought her (she wanted more to eat, but the others insisted that she had no idea how much she was allowed to eat when she was with Jacob, and how much food would be too much), uneasily waiting for Whitehorse to arrive. She was surprised that he was coming to get her: last time, she hid out with the Whitetails for a few days as she regained her strength. It didn’t take long for him to arrive - Wheaty, who had been chattering non-stop since she woke up, told her that the Sheriff had been notified as soon as they found Alice in the woods.

Somehow, the Sheriff didn’t say anything about her birthday, not while he was talking to Eli, not when he was wrapping her up in a warm blanket (was that hers? Did he stop at her house first?), and not as Wheaty helped her into the truck. He didn’t say anything to her, actually, simply giving her a worried smile as the Whitetails filled him in.

It wasn’t until they were safely in the car and a mile down the road before he said anything.

“Hey, Rook.”

“Please don’t.” Alice groaned, burying her face in the blanket. It was definitely hers - it smelled like her cats. “Don’t tell Sharky. Or Hurk.”

Whitehorse laughed. “What, you think they’d make a big deal of your birthday?”

She glared at him, receiving another laugh in return.

“I won’t. I’m just glad to have you back.”

“Thanks,  _ dad _ .”

A few minutes passed, split between a comfortable silence, updates from the resistance in the Henbane, and Alice trying to force her eyes to stay open. She tried watching the trees, and helping Whitehorse keep an eye out for Peggie airplanes, but nothing worked.

She was just about to nod off when Whitehorse spoke. “There is one problem. Mary May knows.”

“Oh.” Duh.

“She told Addie.” A fleeting look on Whitehorse’s face gave away that he wasn’t telling her everything, but honestly? She was too damn tired to focus on anything other than Adelaide, who isn’t exactly known for keeping her mouth shut, knowing that today is her goddamn birthday.

Alice paled. “Is… she at my house?”

Whitehorse shook his head. “The Spread Eagle.”

“Oh thank fuck. Take the back way into town, I can sneak into my house. Should be able to get around without anyone noticing your car…” She yawned, snuggling back into her blanket. God, she missed her cats. “Wake me up when we’re there.”

Whitehorse indulged her by taking the long way to her house: around the west end of the valley (his knuckles were white as he passed Seed Ranch - it was risky, but there were less Peggies this way than going on the east side), then slowly driving through town. As he pulled up between the auto shop and Alice’s little bungalow, he set his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, kid. Wake up.”

Alice swatted his hand away and pulled the blanket over her head. “‘M I home yet?”

“I haveta tell you something, Alice.”

She slowly poked her face out. “What, that I’m not home?”

“No, you’re here. But Sharky’s out at the baseball field. Call came over while you were out saying he was trying to turn Mary May’s thing into a full-on party.”

“No.” Alice shot up, scrambling to untangle herself from the blanket. “No  _ fucking  _ way.”

“He thought you’d like it.” Whitehorse sighed, and walked around the car to open Alice’s door. “Mary May told him to wait, but he wanted to surprise you.”

“If I hadn’t been under Jacob’s spell for two weeks, fuck, maybe. But… Ugh. I just want to sleep in my own bed.” She took Whitehorse’s arm carefully. Maybe she should have had more to eat back at the Wolf’s Den - moving made her nauseous. Looking south, Alice could see the bonfire Sharky had built.  _ Fuck _ , it was almost in her fucking yard. It’d be a miracle to get in without being seen, but there was no way she’d be able to watch the ground and watch the party-goers. “Watch them?”

Whitehorse nodded. As the duo slowly walked to the house, he saw Hurk look over, but a simple shake of the head stopped him.

Once inside, the Sheriff looked at the couch, and then to the stairs. Alice followed his gaze, and sighed when she realised she’d have to somehow get  _ up _ the stairs. Fuck, she missed this place. Even if the stairs were a big hurdle between her and her bed, it was still  _ home _ . Part of her told her to go find some broth, maybe more crackers,  _ some _ sort of food to put in her stomach, but… Bed. The bed was winning.

Whitehorse left her sitting on the edge of her bed. He said he was going to get her some food and tell everyone that yes, she was home, yes, she was safe, and  _ no _ , they couldn’t come see her, not unless they were Mary May coming with her cats.

In the time he was gone, all Alice managed to do was take off her shoes. God, she felt miserable. She desperately needed a shower before she even  _ thought _ about laying in her bed (she knew it didn’t matter, but she had just washed her bedding before she left for the mountains, and she didn’t want to get her disgusting-ness all over them).

When he came back, Whitehorse was carrying a mug of hot broth. “You good now? Jess said she’d be over in a few.” He shrugged when Alice shot him a surprised look. “Said she wanted to help. Probably more help than me at this point. Mary May’ll come by in the morning with the cats. Or whenever.”

“‘M good. Can you have her bring them tonight?” Alice looked at her feet, then to the stairs when she heard her front door open. Whitehorse nodded, and started to leave the room. She frowned, remembering -- “Oh. Sheriff?”

“Yeah?” He paused on the stairs, moving to the side to make room for Jess to pass.

“I saw Staci again. He’s… Alive. Not good. But Alive.”

The Sheriff sighed. “Fuck. Okay.”

“We’ll get him back. And Joey. We just gotta.. Figure it out.”

“Yeah. We’ll start tomorrow. Get some sleep, kid.”

Alice rolled her eyes, and let Jess help her up. “Yes, dad.”

“You look like a fuckin’ truck ran over you.” Jess mumbled as Whitehorse left.

“What a fantastic ‘welcome home’!” Alice stuck her tongue out at her friend. “Just get me to the tub, I’ll be fine.”

“Like hell you will.” Jess looked down at her friend’s legs, then back up. “Can you get those off on your own?”

Alice froze. “Uh.” She glanced down, scrunching her face up in annoyance. “Nope. Probably… Nope. Fuckin’ hell, this is awkward.”

Jess snorted, and (oh-so-awkwardly) helped Alice get down to her underwear before having Alice lean against the counter while she started the water in the shower. “Look, I like you but --”

“What, you don’t like seeing me naked, covered in bruises and a metric shitton of dirt?” She shrugged, then winced. “Yeah, might need help changing bandages -- fuck, this hurts.”

“Get clean, then we’ll deal with that shit.” The other woman helped her get into as comfortable position in the tub as could be managed, then nodded towards her friend’s room. “Gonna grab you some clothes. Can you manage?”

Alice nodded. “I’ll holler if I need you.”

_ Fucking hell _ , everything hurt. She knew at some point, she’d have to actually think about what had happened, what Jacob made her do - but now? Nope. Now was time for getting clean, properly getting the dirt and sweat and blood off of her.

She was scrubbing her legs when she heard Jess come back into the room, and sit down on the toilet. “So…”

“So what?” 

“What the hell was Sharky planning?”

Jess snorted, “He thought you’d miss people, I think.”

“Oh.” The pair sat in silence for a minute before Alice peeked out of the curtain and looked at Jess. “I hate to ask buuut…”

“But?”

“Can you help me with my back? And my hair? My arms are killing me.” Alice smiled at Jess sheepishly, a faint blush appearing on her face. She moved so her back was facing out, and hugged her knees. Jess was surprisingly delicate - her hands ghosted over her back, carefully avoiding putting pressure on any bruises. She almost fell asleep there, sitting under the warm shower, Jess’s familiar hands on her… The sound of a door opening downstairs, followed by the patter of her cats running up the stairs, kept her awake.

After her back and hair felt clean, Jess helped her dry off and get dressed, then shooed the cats off the bed so Alice could lay down.

“I’m going to see what Mary May’s doing.” Jess mumbled. Alice nodded, patting the bed for the cats to join her. God, it was nice to be home.

When Jess came back upstairs, Alice was fast asleep, Data sitting on her lap and Crookshanks almost on her shoulder. She knew that the deputy would have to go back out soon, start fighting the cult again - but for now, she looked at peace.

* * *

 

“How many rules are you breaking by being here?” Alice stared at the ghostly figure standing at the end of her bed. “Like, won’t John…”

“John doesn’t have to know.” Faith smiled, and Alice raised her eyebrow. “He doesn’t understand how I use the Bliss. As long as nobody tells him…” Yep, she got that. The threat was just barely hidden beneath Faith’s smile, barely noticeable with how tired she still was.

This was  _ so  _ weird. Her cats, dropped off by Mary May moments before, had only given Faith sleepy glances before going back to sleep - the useless things, she really needed to get Boomer back from Grace, not that he ever noticed Faith either…

Alice never thought that Faith would be in the Holland Valley after the Reaping began, let alone  _ standing in her bedroom _ . She was suddenly aware of how much (or how little) she was wearing: Jess had managed to help her slip into a thin camisole and a clean pair of shorts, but that was it.

She didn’t know why it mattered - she wore this much around Mary May, and Grace, and fuck, even one time around Staci (he had been noticeably flustered, but it didn’t bother her), but it just felt  _ so _ strange around Faith. Pulling her blanket up to her chin, she squinted her eyes at Faith. “...Why are you here?”

“I was worried.” Faith sounded so matter-of-fact, like it was natural for her to be worried about the de-facto leader of the resistance. “Jacob has a tendency to be a little… Rough.”

“I think you’re under-exaggerating that.”

“And I’d like to think we were friends.” Faith walked closer, along the side of her bed. “May I?”

Alice nodded.  _ Maybe more _ , a voice in her head whispered.  _ Maybe more _ .

“How are you?” Faith sat next to Alice, tucking her legs under her. “I.. I can get you food or something to drink -”

“Faith.” She gave the other woman a small, sad smile. “I feel like shit. But Jess - fuck, she fawned over me as much as she could. Uh,” A deep breath. “Do… you wanna watch a movie? Or something? My dvd player, I think it’s hooked up.”

Slowly, Faith stood up, smiling. “You don’t want me to leave?”

She paused. Yeah, Alice was tired of the constant attention - she hadn’t been alone while she was awake since she had gotten home (since she had woken up at the Wolf’s Den?), and she suspected Jess hadn’t been gone long before Faith woke her up. But… Faith was different.

She didn’t know why.

"No. Stay.” She could almost see the tension in Faith’s body release as she picked a movie off the shelf - Volcano, not one that she would have expected from her - and started the movie.She looked over at her bed, then up at Faith. “Do you wanna… sit? Or something? I mean, there’s, uh, plenty of room and, uh, my blankets --”

“We’re supposed to be enemies, you know.”

Alice sighed. “Not now. Are you going to sit?”

Faith nodded, nervously, curling up next to Alice. As the opening credits rolled, Alice slowly (painfully) tried to cover Faith with the blanket, smiling at her when the other woman scooted closer to her, and then she realised -

She was actually here. Faith - she wasn’t an apparition.

Oh.

That meant a lot, a lot more than Alice expected it to - they’d been meeting up whenever she was in the Henbane since that first time, by the Convent - but Faith had always been a bliss apparition. She’d never  _ physically _ been there. Not even when Alice was hunting by Faith’s bunker, uneasily eyeing the clouds of bliss streaming out of the doors, not when she had fallen, and Faith stayed by her side till someone could help her up (and give her a lecture for tripping), not when she was just  _ there _ , silently accompanying her wherever she was in the region.

But she was worried enough to break John’s - no, the  _ Father’s _ rule - and physically come to see her in the heart of the Holland Valley.

Quietly, she rested her head on Faith’s shoulder. She could feel her flinch, then slowly, slowly, relax, putting her arm around Alice. 

They sat like that for a while, Faith being careful not to touch any of Alice’s bruises or bandages, Alice soaking in Faith’s touch, before Alice broke the silence.

“I love you.”

Faith looked as startled as she did. That - she didn’t mean to say that out loud. She  _ knew _ it was true, but - she shouldn’t. This shouldn’t be happening. Alice was too tired to care, though, too tired, too in pain... 

“I - I mean it.” 

Faith smiled - a tinge of fear flashing in her eyes, a look that Alice missed - and gently kissed the top of Alice’s head. “I love you too.”

Silence, again, until the titular volcano exploded from the tar pits.

“Why do you even like this?”

“Faith!” Alice gasped in faux-shock. “This is a cinematic masterpiece! It’s the pinnacle of shitty volcano movies!” Faith gave her an exasperated look, and she smiled up at her. “It’s fun. So,  _ so, _ impossible, but  _ so _ fun.”

“This is…”

“Horrible?”

Faith snorted. “You took the words out of my mouth.”

“I mean, it’s a disaster movie. It’s not… yeah.” She shrugged. “God, like - the doorway thing? Nope. That’s… Yeah. Don’t. If you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t.”

Alice smiled, snuggling closer. “Who knows, you might need to, if we go visit my uncle -- I’m not saying there’s  _ going _ to be one, but --”

Faith looked startled.

...What did she - oh.

_ Oh. _

“You… Want me to meet your family?”

“Uh.” She needed to sleep. She really did. “If… You wanted? I mean, I can promise there’s not going to be a volcano.”

Faith smiled at Alice, pulling the deputy closer to her.

The bed was empty when Alice woke up. She didn’t remember falling asleep - the movie had been playing, she knew that - but between the medicine she had been giving, her general exhaustion, and how  _ warm _ Faith was… No idea.

It felt strange - waking up alone. 

She didn’t like it.

 


End file.
